Victoria Janssen

Much Ado About Margaret by Madeleine Roux was very sweet and satisfying, by which I mean there’s a happy ending (of course! it’s a Romance!) and even the villains of the piece become sympathetic in the end, at least to some extent. Margaret Arden, Maggie, is a writer, and her latest work is based heavily on the naval stories of her beloved and recently-deceased father. Bridger Darrow, a second son to an abusive father, left a military career with PTSD to instead do work he loves, as a publisher and editor. For me, the romantic fantasy was the part about being able to make a modest living by writing novels!

Maggie is desperate to sell her novel so she, her grieving mother, and her two sisters can move out of the home of her controlling aunt. Her aunt is pressuring Maggie to marry well instead, probably because Maggie’s mother married for love; also, Aunt Eliza appears to feel writing is somehow inappropriate. Bridger’s father has dementia and his drunken, wastrel elder brother is not caring for the estate. Bridger had escaped into the army, and then to London when his friend and publishing mentor left him the business; he’s now realizing they will lose everything if he doesn’t step in and try to deal with his brother. Maggie tries to sell Bridger her novel; he pronounces it “overwrought,” getting them off on the wrong foot. As you might expect in a romance novel, however, their opinions change.

It was clear to me that this was not the first in the series, as Maggie and Bridger are in attendance at the wedding of Lane, Maggie’s cousin and Bridger’s closest friend from the army. Various other characters had just enough intriguing twists to them that I assume they were in line for their own book at some point. I enjoyed the layers of Roux’s characters, and the way actions that hurt others were not forgotten; apologies and reparative justice feature in the resolution of the plot. In particular, I loved the abundance of fleshed-out female characters, and the believable flaws in even secondary characters with small roles to play.

I will happily read more by Roux!

Earls Trip by Jenny Holiday is a light historical romance with a mournful beginning. (By “light” I mean light on the historical details and with modern-sounding dialogue, which can be a feature or a bug, depending on your tastes.) Archie is the Earl of Harcourt. His mother no longer remembers who he is, and though he feels guilty about leaving her with her competent, kind companion, he truly needs the break of his annual vacation with his two best friends, one an earl and the other an heir to an earldom who are very clearly destined for their own books. However, they haven’t gotten far down the road when they’re interrupted by a mission to rescue his childhood friends, the daughters of his deceased father’s best friend, from a potentially reputation-ruining elopement; one is eloping, the other attempting to rescue her while wearing male clothing.

Archie hasn’t seen his best (female) buddy Clem in years, and he’s surprised by his attraction to her. While she rediscovers and deepens her relationship with her younger sister Olive, she also finds that Archie has become someone with whom she’d like to share intimacies. Their friendship and outdoor rambles resume despite a few bumps, and together they negotiate issues such as Clem being a vegetarian while Archie loves the hunt.

It’s a fluffy and sweet book which was a welcome escape from a stressful week.